1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for purifying water such as flush water in a simplified flush toilet, water for fish culture farms, circulating water for aquarium fish, etc. or water-containing materials such as those wasted from leather processing plants and chemical plants and abnormally putrefied mud at the sea bed in a fish culture farm, etc. using microorganisms or bacteria. This invention also relates to a bacterial preparation for the purification of water or water-containing materials and a method for preparing and storing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional methods for water purification using microorganisms include an activated sludge process and a water spray filter bed process which are directed to purification of water in only limited places. Other methods suggested are not entirely satisfactory, and have not gained commercial acceptance.
The main reason for this is that no sufficient analysis has ever been made of the properties of microorganisms which are required for water purification, and no single microorganism having the required properties has been isolated. It has been confirmed however that water could be purified by the overall action of a great variety and number of microorganisms. Thus, attempts have in fact been made to purify or clarify water by utilizing the collective action of these numerous strains, and methods for purification by cultivating a mass of hundreds or thousands of bacterial strains have had commercial applications.
However, with such a large mass of bacterial strains, the multiplicity of the strains makes it quite impossible to determine (1) why and by what mechanism water is clarified or purified, (2) in what condition the purification continues, and (3) if there are complementary actions which participate in the purification. This scientific fact means from another angle that clues or means are scarce for achieving a striking improvement in the activity or effectiveness of water purifying agents. Furthermore, the cultivation of the bacterial strains or their preservation with high reliability involve many problems which are difficult to solve.
Difficult problems also exist in regard to checking safety of water purifying bacterial preparations. Bacterial species and strains are too many to trace and examine once they have been scattered in nature. The toxicities of the individual strains cannot be determined because of the large number of the strains. Also, if such a toxicity test is to be conducted, it should be done on many combinations of strains, but such a thing is quite impossible in substance. Furthermore, if flora of strains which have been scattered in the natural world begin to lose balance, there will be no measure that can be taken against it. It would be also difficult to develop a method for cultivating strains having different properties and a method for preserving them without causing a reduction in potency.
It is reasonable to think that no practical way exists to solve the problems associated with the use of a large number and variety of bacterial strains.